AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR
The rewards

I received a long letter from one of the faithful readers of the Press in which he asked me to intervene against the custom of prize distributions.

This honest citizen claims that it is swallowing science or rather knowledge to sanction it every year with crowns and prizes.

My correspondent, not without wit, ridicules the ceremonies where decorated, beribboned, scarfed official figures make meaningless speeches, it is he who says it, and most of the time incomprehensible to their audience.

The argument he holds is this which is not new: “Rewards sanction success but not work. However, it is only the effort that counts.”

Schoolchildren who are not rewarded become tired and discouraged to such an extent that the distribution of prizes risks throwing brave children into laziness, by virtue of the fundamental injustice that it represents.

This thesis demonstrates, once again, that we can support the most contradictory opinions with an appearance of reason.

Those who are for the custom of prices also have no shortage of arguments which go against the opinion expressed by the reader of the Press.

You should not judge in absolute terms. Certainly. it would be completely unfair not to take into account either the work produced or the good will brought by the student in the accomplishment of his duty. But this is not as easy to achieve as one might believe and the measure which would make it possible to decide without fear of error has not yet been invented.

The same could be said about exams. They are gratuitously addressed with reproaches similar to those which have just been mentioned. Undoubtedly, success in exams does not always reward the most diligent students.

Good workers can easily find themselves in a state of inferiority. This happens all the better because in this case moral factors play an important role. A student can be good and shy, he can lack discernment. This one hesitates too much before grasping the question, this one wastes his time, he gets confused and ultimately does work inferior to his real value and his true merit. This is not debatable.

It is also certain that a mediocre student can be accepted. There is a lot of luck involved in exams. I remember that I often discussed these things with one of the masters of the University.

As I submitted to my master some of the arguments that my correspondent puts forward in his letter, the professor did not deny the value of my objections but to each of them he gave this response which came back like a leitmotif: “It is true, but what can we replace the exam with? »

In Switzerland, for example, exams are abolished for students who have obtained a constant average for three or four years. It is one of the least bad systems, but it allows examination for those who have not fulfilled these conditions and, no more than the brutal test to which we have all been subjected, it does not take into account the effort and work.

In this matter as in many others, alas! we are far from perfect. Man, whether big or small, young or old, does not often work for goals worthy of ideals. Interest is the pattern for almost all our actions.

Should we, under the pretext of not discouraging the clumsy or unlucky, suppress the enthusiasm of those who allow themselves to be seduced by the glory of academic success? I do not believe that. Just absolutely, the current system is not. Is it radically unfair? No more. But, I repeat it with my master. What to do and how to reconcile irreconcilables?

I too am very moved by the thought of the sorrow experienced by some of our dear little ones who have worked well without being rewarded by prizes or success. Quite recently I saw some crying with disappointment again. I consoled them as best I could. It was impossible for me to do anything other than wish them good luck for another time.

The great necessity is that children or young people cannot reproach anyone for injustice or wickedness. This happens very rarely. That's all we can ask for. Both young and old can always, in the event of a failure, question their conscience.

If they notice any failures. we only have to regret them and remedy them. I remember that certain faculty professors had a well-deserved reputation for extreme severity. It must be the same today as yesterday.

For yesterday, I can say that in most cases. we often deserved to be examined a little more closely for having followed the lessons a little too far.
In summary, I believe that we must maintain current habits until we have found the ideal sanctions.

Let us be content with what is not entirely bad. since perfection is not of this world.

Louis MAFFERT.